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Today in Interstate History

Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson, First Lady of the United States

December 11, 1965

A spokesperson for Lady Bird Johnson said that she had forwarded to Federal Highway Administrator Rex M. Whitton several written protests concerning the proposed site for a segment of I-87 in Westchester County, New York. In forwarding the protests to Whitton, the First Lady did not make any recommendations of her own. The protests illustrated the longtime controversy over I-87 in that part of the Empire State; they also underscored Mrs. Johnson's reputation by that time when it came to the makeup of highways and in particular the Interstate System (see May 11). Over the previous nine months, she had received approximately 7000 letters on the topic.